One of the most beautiful childhood memories is, no doubt, the decorating of the Christmas tree. Faces glow in smiles; the house is filled with the aroma of the coniferous tree; careful hands take out of the boxes the shining decorations, laboriously wrapped in cotton or old papers. Decorations from our childhood – made of glass, so fragile, delicate and pretty.

Nowadays the Christmas tree is often artificial and decorations are pure plastic with no soul, quite incomparable to those old figures made of fine glass, which several generations of Bulgarians remember. However, the tradition of making glass decorations for the Christmas tree is still alive in the city of Dobrich, northeastern Bulgaria. Georgi Keranov has taken up their creation since 1984. In 1991 he opened his own small workshop.

“People started avoiding the plastic decorations made in China in latter years”, Georgi Keranov explains. “They prefer glass decorations as they glitter better. Bulgarians are looking for what is beautiful. Christmas is only once a year and everyone wants his Christmas tree to be covered with the most beautiful decorations.”

The workshop functions only several months through the year, because with competition from Ukraine, Russia and China, it cannot ensure round the year employment. The rest of the time it deals in plastic toys. Yet, in the short period before Christmas, the six masters employed in the workshop create around 10 thousand glass bells, snowmen, stars, balls, snowflakes and peaks for the top of the tree.

“Each decoration is blown from a glass bubble. We have glass pipes, which get warmed, cut into sections, blown out into bubbles and then put into the form of a particular figure. What comes next is the spreading of silver cover over the figure, painting it, decorating it in addition and finally, packing the toy”, Georgi Keranov explains.

The work done is 100% by hand, which makes each pine tree decoration unique. There could never be two identical ones. The secret of making these toys is in long-time experience. The skill takes years to master and a lot of hard work. Nowadays Georgi Keranov wants to employ young people and pass onto them his craft, because it is worth to have it preserved for as long as possible.

The interest in glass Christmas tree decorations is revived in latter years. Several years ago Georgi Keranov thought of introducing a new element in the decorations. He places a small photo, a logo or an inscription to personalize, to the demand of the client. He shares that there is demand for such decorations – they are pretty and people enjoy them. His idea has been adopted by other decoration manufacturers as well. But there are other novelties as well. Besides the familiar 20 figures that most clients are now used to, this year there will be three new ones – a small glass elephant, a parrot and a miniature kettle. “The market is flooded by Christmas decorations, but ours must be the best, as our clients remain faithful. They are used to our toys and return for more each year”, Keranov says with a smile. And yet, where does the true magic of the glass decorations come from?

“Magic… . Magic comes from within, Georgi Keranov adds. One gets carried away by this kind of work, one gets to love it, like we do. This is because we are working out only beautiful objects and everyone who sees them goes ‘Waw!’ They are beautifully decorated and they bring joy, especially to children, and that is the most important thing.”

Those glass decorations not only plunge us back in our childhood memories, but also preserve the warmth of the hands that have made them, and pass that warmth on, with all the love that has been put into their creation.

English version: Iva Letnikova